2022 was a year of strengthened bonds. We focused on the idea that people – in all their plurality and diversity – matter the most: they are the firm’s greatest asset; they are the core of our business. With this in mind, we updated certain programs and implemented new initiatives to prioritize well-being.
Our main internship program, Jovens Talentos (Young Talents), underwent significant strategic changes in an effort to spark reflection on the existing internship model in Brazil and thus drive transformation beyond the legal market. We seek to further improve how future lawyers are trained, recognizing how important the internship experience is as a starting point for their professional careers.
One of the measures involved reducing students’ workdays from six to five hours in a hybrid format. So that they may fully dedicate themselves to professional development, interns’ hours are no longer billed to clients, in line with practices among European and American law firms.
We also implemented a specific form of leave for the students to prepare for the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) exam and guaranteed them a place on a committee of partners that oversees the program. The Jovens Talentos program now also includes affirmative action positions, reinforcing our commitment to social inclusion and diversity (more information about this change can be found in the box below).
The changes, which were put into practice at the beginning of 2023, provide the students with a unique opportunity to focus on activities and routines that improve technical skills and behavioral competencies to complement their university studies.
"Budding lawyers have their entire career to consider their professional development in the context of a law firm. On the other hand, what they learn at university and throughout their academic lives represent unique, irreplaceable experiences. We understand how truly important this stage of their lives is. Therefore, we desire that the experience the students have with us complements their academic, professional and human training,"
After a highly competitive selection process involving over 3000 applications, the seventh edition of the Jovens Talentos program admitted 140 interns across 20 practice areas in 2022, giving them the opportunity to immerse themselves into the firm's culture. In addition to the interns that worked via the hybrid model in our offices in São Paulo, Campinas, Rio de Janeiro, and Brasília, we also had participants in other Brazilian cities for the first time, who worked 100% remotely – expanding our potential to disseminate and strengthen knowledge regarding the law.
Hybrid work model with reduced working hours (from six to five hours a day)
Clients are no longer billed for hours worked by interns precisely because they are dedicated exclusively to student development
We have exclusive intern positions for black students, public school students, students from families with a monthly household income equivalent to three minimum wages or less, and students participating in public education incentive programs (such as ProUni and FIES)
We grant our interns 15 days’ leave to prepare for the Brazilian Bar Association (OAB) exam
Selected interns will take part in a committee with the firm’s partners created to oversee the program
As internships tend to create career expectations, we inform interns well in advance whether they will be hired as full-time professionals
Throughout 2022, we also implemented new measures for our Soma Talentos program, an initiative that seeks to create an ever more inclusive work environment for black professionals, offering them opportunities to advance their careers. The new strategy behind the program includes not only hiring interns but also qualified black lawyers, in an effort to speed up the promotion of diverse talent to leadership positions.
Created in 2019, Soma Talentos is considered a pioneering initiative in Brazil’s legal market. 2022 marked the fourth edition of the program.
"The responsibility we have toward others and toward society has always been central to how we work at Mattos Filho. The growth of projects like Soma Talentos is only natural, and it signifies that the initiative has been successful. The more we invest in this path, the richer the expertise we can offer our clients and the teams that work alongside us."
Our commitment to renewing these programs is linked to a broader purpose – our constant effort to assist lawyers in developing at all stages of their careers.
The reformulation of the internship program occurred at the same time as other measures were implemented to enhance the work of our lawyers. These measures prepare professionals for a career with new types of demands in the context of a rapidly changing market. Senior lawyers, for example, now have a more prominent role in managing more junior professionals.
We also conducted a career review study and used it to organize a new model that reduces the average time for professionals to become partners. This should help us to build an even stronger legacy in the legal sector, boosting engagement with the firm and long-term commitments to our clients.
"Mattos Filho’s vision is linked to our ability to continue having the best people – people with varying aspirations and characteristics in a rapidly changing world. Whether technical or behavioral, the market demands professionals with different skills. Clients seek individuals with diverse profiles. Beyond focusing on people management, the new scenario requires us to have high-level business management abilities and to be able to anticipate companies' areas of investment. Amid so many different variables, we must evolve the way we think and ensure we act in a well-balanced manner."
The legal profession is rapidly evolving, demanding new perspectives, experiences, and skills. Last year marked the tenth anniversary of our Making Partner program, which seeks to ensure senior associates have the right skill set to become partners. Through such projects, we promote a culture that values learning and sees it not as a one-way street but as a two-way exchange, where professionals at all levels have specific growth options according to their experience and tenure in the firm.
We selected a group of 28 associates from the Making Partner program to participate in the second edition of our Business School course. The in-company course is conducted in partnership with the Getulio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and covers 11 subjects over 18 months, ranging from people and organizations to finance and strategy.
We also promoted the Being Partner program in 2022, which assists recently appointed partners within the firm, as well as the Making Lawyer program, directed at interns and trainees.
2022 saw Mattos Filho reach a total of 132 partners, while the promotion of 13 lawyers to the partnership was a firm record, reflecting our goal to continue providing more opportunities.
"We have always taken a pioneering approach to addressing each moment, yet without losing sight of our culture. Every time one of our professionals makes it to partner, it confirms that we are on the right path. It demonstrates that Mattos Filho was able to attract, retain, and nurture the professional, and contributed to their career development. This professional is then ready to restart the cycle, helping others complete their own journeys and driving the transformation we seek."
"The increasing number of partners is the result of the growth and fertile ground for opportunities that our firm offers. At Mattos Filho, all professionals have space to learn, develop, and grow. It is in this entrepreneurial, collaborative, and innovative environment that new ideas, new demands and business opportunities emerge, increasing the firm‘s strategic benefit to clients."
In 2022, Mattos Filho’s Jornada (Journey) program emerged as a space for dialogue between different business areas, with an aim to advance people management projects and improve how professionals integrate themselves with the firm’s values.
Conducted in partnership with an external consultancy specialized in organizational psychology, the process behind the program involved a series of insight-generating conversations and questionnaires, followed by a diagnosis of our performance. Based on the resulting report, partners and managers from our Human Development area implemented parameters and action plans to create a more humanized way of managing the firm in line with the values of high performance, collaboration, and well-being.
To strengthen our leaders’ commitment to the path to be taken, we provided our partners with detailed feedback, workshops to intensify efforts, and mentoring on people management topics, all of which are fundamental to building our legacy.
Professionals at the firm have long sought out others to discuss various topics in mentor-mentee relationships. This culture has now been formalized, with the Human Development area promoting meetings through an official mentoring program. Having had their profiles analyzed by the department, pairs of professionals come together once a month to listen to each other and exchange experiences.
This institutionalized format facilitates organizing regular meetings and monitoring their progress. In doing so, it both encourages the practice of mentoring and the creation of an empathetic environment where one is available and always open to listening and sharing.
"With these learning opportunities, we want to empower our professionals – both our associates and partners – so that they can build their own careers, contribute to the careers of other professionals, and thus be responsible for the development of Mattos Filho as a whole. The market is no longer the same as it once was; the required knowledge has changed, and our people need to stay up to date with this dynamic. As such, we look to ensure our professionals are protagonists of transformation, and always prepared to make a positive impact."
